This application is based on and incorporates herein by reference Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-206164 filed on Jul. 6, 2001 and Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-231673 filed on Jul. 31, 2001.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicular relay device, which relays communication between an external device located outside a vehicle and various in-vehicle electronic devices, and also relates to a failure diagnostic system of the vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, in vehicles (particularly, automobiles), the number of in-vehicle electronic devices, such as control devices, information devices and audio devices, has been increasing. Furthermore, many in-vehicle electronic devices, which require cooperation with other in-vehicle electronic devices or share information with other in-vehicle electronic devices, are interconnected through dedicated communication lines to construct an information communication network (i.e., in-vehicle LAN) to allow transmission and reception of information among the in-vehicle electronic devices.
Furthermore, in recent years, external network systems, which are located outside the vehicle, have made notable progress. With the progress of the external network systems, infrastructures, which allow in-vehicle devices to obtain necessary information from outside the vehicle, are developed. With the advent of such infrastructures, many in-vehicle devices, each of which has a radio communication device capable of communicating with the external devices, are connected to the in-vehicle LAN.
One example of such an in-vehicle device is a vehicle navigation system. The vehicle navigation system may be connected to a vehicle information and communication system (VICS) radio communication device capable of receiving traffic information supplied from a VICS. The vehicle navigation system may be also connected to a cellular phone capable of obtaining, for example, nearby store information through the internet or the like. Another example is an in-vehicle electronic toll collection (ETC) device connected to an ETC radio communication device. The ETC radio communication device is capable of communicating with an ETC system located outside the vehicle.
In the previously proposed in-vehicle LANs, the radio communication device, through which various external information is received, is directly connected to the device, which primarily uses that particular external information. This will result in various disadvantages. For example, in one case, the radio communication device cannot be placed to a desired location in the vehicle. In another case, an extra communication line (wiring) is required to connect the radio communication device to the corresponding device.
To address these disadvantages, it is conceivable to directly connect the radio communication device to the in-vehicle LAN, so that the device, which is placed in the LAN and needs information received through the radio communication device, can obtain the information through the radio communication device and the LAN. In this way, the greater freedom can be achieved in terms of positioning of the radio communication device in the vehicle, and the number of communication lines can be advantageously reduced.
However, with such an arrangement, each device connected to the in-vehicle LAN can be accessed from outside the vehicle through the radio communication device. Thus, it causes various disadvantages, such as one similar to unauthorized access to a network terminal, which is often seen lately in the internet service.
Furthermore, in recent years, considerable progress has been made in the field of mechatronics in connection with progress in the field of electronics, such as the advent of high performance microprocessors. As part of the progress in the field of mechatronics, various in-vehicle computer systems are provided in vehicles, such as automobiles. Such an in-vehicle computer system is provided to achieve an improvement in resource saving, energy saving, driving performance, safety, comfort and the like and is installed in an engine/drive system, a running/safety system, an entertainment system and the like.
If a failed part of the vehicle cannot be properly identified with such an in-vehicle computer system or electronic control unit, it may cause a problem (in the worst case, the vehicle cannot be run). Thus, a failure detection program for detecting a failure of each subject apparatus (subject to be controlled by the corresponding electronic control unit) is provided in the electronic control unit to improve reliability of detection of a failed part. That is, operations of the computers and sensors are periodically and automatically checked. If a failure of the subject apparatus is detected, corresponding information, such as a diagnostic code (e.g., SAE code), is stored in the electronic control unit.
In this way, a service technician can read the information, such as the diagnostic code stored in the electronic control unit, through a diagnostic tool to identify the failed part.
In the above failure detection, the individual failure detection program is executed in each electronic control unit, and thus the failure detection is generally carried out on an individual electronic control unit basis.
However, in recent years, the various electronic control units are interconnected through the in-vehicle network system to achieve collaborative operation with other electronic control units in the vehicle.
Thus, a trouble in the collaborative operation between the electronic control units could occur, and a failed part, which causes such a trouble in the collaborative operation, cannot be identified with the information obtained through the execution of the failure detection program provided on the individual electronic control unit basis.
Furthermore, the identification of the failed part, which causes the trouble, requires expert knowledge since the collaborative operation of the electronic control units is involved. Thus, it is difficult to identify the failed part through the conventional approach of using the information, such as the diagnostic code, obtained through the diagnostic tool, which is connected to the corresponding electronic control unit. As a result, even if the vehicle is brought into a service station or an automobile dealer, repair work of the vehicle sometimes requires a relatively long period of time.
The present invention addresses the above disadvantages. Thus, it is an objective of the present invention to effectively restrain unauthorized access to in-vehicle electronic devices while reducing wiring in an in-vehicle communication system. It is another objective of the present invention to effectively identify a trouble in collaborative operation between electronic control devices, which are interconnected through an in-vehicle network, and to quickly identify a failed part that causes the trouble.
To achieve the objectives of the present invention, there is provided a vehicular relay device, which is located between an in-vehicle LAN and a communication device that performs data communication with an external device located outside of a vehicle. The in-vehicle LAN is arranged in the vehicle and is connected with a plurality of in-vehicle electronic devices. The vehicular relay device relays communication between the external device and the in-vehicle electronic devices. The vehicular relay device includes a first identifying means, a first authenticating means and a first delivering means. The first identifying means identifies a requested in-vehicle electronic device from the in-vehicle electronic devices based on an access request for requesting access to the requested in-vehicle electronic device upon reception of the access request from the external device and determines whether the access request requires authentication of the external device based on a result of identification of the requested in-vehicle electronic device. The first authenticating means determines whether the external device has been authorized to access the in-vehicle electronic devices based on first authentication information, which is transmitted from the external device, when the first identifying means determines that the access request requires the authentication of the external device. The first delivering means delivers communication data transmitted from the external device through the communication device to the requested in-vehicle electronic device when the first authenticating means determines that the external device has been authorized to access the in-vehicle electronic devices or when the first identifying means determines that the access request requires no authentication of the external device.
To achieve the objectives of the present invention, there is further provided an in-vehicle communication system including the in-vehicle LAN, the communication device and the vehicular relay device described above.
To achieve the objectives of the present invention, there is also provided a failure diagnostic system including a plurality of electronic control devices and a vehicle management device. The electronic control devices are interconnected through an in-vehicle network. Each electronic control device stores a failure detection program, which is executed to detect a failure of a vehicle during control operation of a controlled apparatus controlled by the electronic control device. The vehicle management device communicates with the electronic control devices through the in-vehicle network to manage the failure of the vehicle. The vehicle management device includes a trouble determining means for determining whether a trouble of the vehicle currently exists, a program obtaining means for obtaining a corresponding detection and diagnostic program corresponding to the current trouble, a failed part identifying means for identifying a failed part, which causes the current trouble in the vehicle, and an information outputting means for outputting failure information relevant to the failed part. The trouble determining means determines whether the trouble of the vehicle currently exists based on data transmitted from each electronic control device through the in-vehicle network. The program obtaining means obtains the corresponding detection and diagnostic program corresponding to the current trouble when the trouble determining means determines that the trouble of the vehicle currently exists. The corresponding detection and diagnostic program is previously prepared to handle the current trouble. The failed part identifying means identifies the failed part based on information transmitted from each corresponding electronic control device by executing the corresponding detection and diagnostic program obtained by the program obtaining means. The execution of the corresponding detection and diagnostic program, in turn, causes execution of an associated process in each corresponding electronic control device, so that the information is outputted from each corresponding electronic control device to the failed part identifying means. The information outputting means outputs the failure information relevant to the failed part based on a result obtained through operation of the failed part identifying means.
To achieve the objectives of the present invention, there is further provided a server device, which constitutes part of a failure diagnostic system. The failure diagnostic system also includes a plurality of electronic control devices and a vehicle management device. The electronic control devices are interconnected through an in-vehicle network, and each electronic control device stores a failure detection program, which is executed to detect a failure of a vehicle during control operation of a controlled apparatus controlled by the electronic control device. The vehicle management device communicates with the electronic control devices through the in-vehicle network to manage the failure of the vehicle. The server device includes a storage means, which stores a plurality of detection and diagnostic programs each linked to its relevant trouble information indicative of one of troubles of the vehicle. When an inquiry information, which includes current trouble information indicative of a current trouble of the vehicle, is received from the vehicle management device, the server device searches for a corresponding detection and diagnostic program stored in the storage means based on the current trouble information and transmits the corresponding detection and diagnostic program to the vehicle management device. The vehicle management device executes the corresponding detection and diagnostic program to cause execution of an associated process in each corresponding electronic control device, so that information is outputted from each corresponding electronic control device to the vehicle management device, and a failed part, which causes the current trouble of the vehicle, is identified by the vehicle management device based on the information of each corresponding electronic control device.
To achieve the objectives of the present invention, there is also provided a detection and diagnostic program executed in a vehicle management device, which constitutes part of a failure diagnostic system. The failure diagnostic system also includes a plurality of electronic control devices, which are interconnected through an in-vehicle network. Each electronic control device stores a failure detection program, which is executed to detect a failure of a vehicle during control operation of a controlled apparatus controlled by the electronic control device. The vehicle management device communicates with the electronic control devices through the in-vehicle network to manage the failure of the vehicle. The detection and diagnostic program includes an instruction for executing an associated process in each corresponding electronic control device, so that information is outputted from each corresponding electronic control device to the vehicle management device. The detection and diagnostic program also includes an instruction for identifying a failed part of the vehicle based on the information of each corresponding electronic control device.